The fifth flight of Challenger was to prove a unique capabilty of the shuttle. The "Ace Satellite Repair Co.", as the crew called itself, was to repair the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite ("Solar Max") in orbit. And in addition to that they were to release a bus-sized reusable experiment structure called LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility). Scientists and engineers wanted to study how different materials and biological specimens reacted to long-term exposure to the space environment. At the time the return of LDEF was planned for 1985 - in fact it would stay in orbit until early 1990. The fate of Challenger and Francis Dick Scobee, pilot of Mission 41-C, would play a major role in this delayed retrieval...

Launched on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1980, the $77-million Solar Max had just started studying sunspots and solar flares, when the main electronics box of one instrument failed. Then on November 23, 1980, three fuses blew in the attitude control system. Now the solar telescope’s fine-pointing capability was lost.

But Solar Max had been built with the shuttle’s capabilities in mind: The attitude control system could easily be replaced by removing two screws. Replacing the main electronics box on the other hand was “like doing surgery in boxing gloves”, as Pinky Nelson described it. 22 screws had to be removed from 11 connectors. But first the “Solar Max” itself had to be captured – a task for which the astronauts trained a lot. But there would be surprises along the way, once they did the real thing in orbit.

Almost all shuttle missions leading up to mission 41-C had prepared the complex tasks waiting for Bob Crippen and his crew:

STS-7 – first retrieval and berthing of a satellite (SPAS-01)STS-8 – first RMS maneuvers with a large structure (in preparation for the 10.5-ton LDEF)STS 41-B – first test of the MMU and the T-PAD, both of which were to play a major role in catching the “Solar Max” satellite.